A man who was sexually abused as a child by former Franciscan brother John Hannon has expressed outrage that he was not informed of his abuser's release from jail in early October, despite a Garda victims charter which stipulated that gardaí would do so.
Hannon (65) was sentenced to 10 years in prison at Tullamore Circuit Court in February 1998 after he pleaded guilty to 16 sample charges from an original total of 39, which included 28 counts of indecent assault, nine of buggery and two of attempted buggery. The assaults took place at primary schools in the midlands between 1973 and 1976.
In June 1998 at Galway Circuit Court, Hannon pleaded guilty to a further 18 sample charges including buggery and indecent assault on young children at a school in a Co Galway village between 1967 and 1972. At that hearing he was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for two buggery offences and a further four-years on each of the remaining charges, to run concurrent with the first sentence.
Hannon was released from prison on October 3rd last and is now staying with a relative in a midlands town.
According to the Garda victims charter, "where a crime is involved which caused serious trauma to you (the abuse victim) or your family, the gardaí will, when notified of the imminent release from custody of the offender, pass this information on to you. In addition, they will make whatever policing arrangements they consider appropriate for your safety."
Speaking to The Irish Times, "Peter" (not his real name), one of the eight males abused by Hannon when children at a midlands schools, said the first he heard of his abuser's release from jail was at the end of October.
The daughter of another man abused by Hannon heard from a friend of hers that not only was Hannon free, but he was now living just 100 metres from their house.
Peter and his fellow abused felt this was "just another example of the justice system letting us down again". He recalled how when the case came to hearing at Tullamore in 1998, they had been assured their anonymity would be protected and the hearing would be in camera.
This was handled so poorly that Hannon's victims were all readily identifiable from court reports and Peter's own mother rang him soon afterwards to ask "are you one of them?" (the abused).
Being so identified had a traumatic effect on all of the men and meant that Peter, for example, had to give up his job, which involved interaction with the public. He also had to seek psychiatric help.
He said of Hannon: "There are times I feel I could kill him." Meeting him was "a very frightening spot to be in. You go back to being a six-year-old child again." He felt he "shouldn't be put in that spot" but that the justice system "didn't care."
A Garda spokeswoman said Hannon had been released to a midlands town which was in a different Garda district to Tullamore and gardaí had not been aware any of Hannon's victims lived where he is now staying.